Steel & Tube has taken a role as a founding member of MATES in Construction, which is launching in New Zealand on 30 October 2019. We’ve joined together with a group of like-minded construction companies who want to step up to do more to reduce New Zealand’s suicide rate in our sector. We know that depression, anxiety and other issues which can lead to suicide have a particularly high incidence rate within the construction sector, and we believe that as an employer we can play an active role in helping support people during these times.
We’re now flying a MATES flag at our Auckland office – to signal that we are a member of MATES.
We want this to send a message to our employees that they are part of a company that encourages and makes it easy for them to reach out and have discussions about health and wellbeing, and for them to know they have access to support during challenging times. We operate an Employee Assistance Programme which is available to all our employees on a free and confidential basis. We encourage all our employees to be mindful of the wellbeing of their colleagues, to check in with each other and create a safe environment to talk about health and wellbeing.
We also support Shine, an organisation dedicated to making homes violence free. It’s a reality in New Zealand that domestic violence affects a number of families and individuals and its affects are wide-reaching. Our People and Culture team is available to provide some confidential support to anyone who may be affected by violence at home and we are committed to creating a safe environment at Steel & Tube for our people to be able to seek help. Alternatively, employees can contact 0508744633 if they wish to access help directly through Shine.